It was already 'the last days' in the first century AD. John said so. So did Peter. So did Paul.
The problem with relegating the fulfilment of all Old Testament prophecies entirely to the future is that it implies that the Levitical worship described in some such prophecies must happen in future - and the New Testament rules that out. It conflicts with New Testament theology, especially soteriology.
Not only does the New Testament rule it out, but the Old Testament itself rules it out - because many of the details in the prophecies were only possible up until the first century AD, but not afterwards. (Details like the temple-infrastructure and priestly-genealogies required to authenticate Levitical worship, which have since been been lost.)
And it's not like there aren't other plausible explanations. There was indeed an inter-generational Zadokite High Priesthood in the inter-testament period, like Ezekiel foresaw there would be. And they did function as princes in Israel. We can cite historical sources. Or we could cite Biblical sources. The high priests functioned like 'princes'.
David was already calling the Lord the king, even in his day. So it wouldn't be inconsistent to understand it in a similar sense when the prophet foresaw that the Lord would be 'king' in Jerusalem when proselytes from many nations would begin making annual pilgrimages to Jerusalem to observe the feast (a practise which continued until the end of the second-temple period) - especially considering that many of the prophets sometimes wrote in the 'apocalyptic' genre (as distinct from straight 'prose'). So the fulfilment of all such prophecies isn't necessarily entirely future.
Of course not everything Daniel and the other Prophets foresaw was fulfilled in or before the first century AD - even Jesus said so. The temple-prophecies were fulfilled within that generation, but "of that day and hour [the day of the second coming] knoweth no man". Like Daniel, we still await the consummation and the resurrection, and yet in a very real sense Messiah had already come and inaugurated both the end and beginning of all things.
That was the Apostles' revelation! The Kingdom already/not yet. Inaugurated/not yet consummated. First coming/Second coming. That some time of unknown length would span between Messiah's first and second comings - a period in which the Gospel 'of the kingdom' would be preached to all nations - and then the end will come. (Like that whole period is 'the last days' in suspense, in a certain sense.)
The problem with relegating the fulfilment of all Old Testament prophecies entirely to the future is that it implies that the Levitical worship described in some such prophecies must happen in future - and the New Testament rules that out. It conflicts with New Testament theology, especially soteriology.
Not only does the New Testament rule it out, but the Old Testament itself rules it out - because many of the details in the prophecies were only possible up until the first century AD, but not afterwards. (Details like the temple-infrastructure and priestly-genealogies required to authenticate Levitical worship, which have since been been lost.)
And it's not like there aren't other plausible explanations. There was indeed an inter-generational Zadokite High Priesthood in the inter-testament period, like Ezekiel foresaw there would be. And they did function as princes in Israel. We can cite historical sources. Or we could cite Biblical sources. The high priests functioned like 'princes'.
David was already calling the Lord the king, even in his day. So it wouldn't be inconsistent to understand it in a similar sense when the prophet foresaw that the Lord would be 'king' in Jerusalem when proselytes from many nations would begin making annual pilgrimages to Jerusalem to observe the feast (a practise which continued until the end of the second-temple period) - especially considering that many of the prophets sometimes wrote in the 'apocalyptic' genre (as distinct from straight 'prose'). So the fulfilment of all such prophecies isn't necessarily entirely future.
Of course not everything Daniel and the other Prophets foresaw was fulfilled in or before the first century AD - even Jesus said so. The temple-prophecies were fulfilled within that generation, but "of that day and hour [the day of the second coming] knoweth no man". Like Daniel, we still await the consummation and the resurrection, and yet in a very real sense Messiah had already come and inaugurated both the end and beginning of all things.
That was the Apostles' revelation! The Kingdom already/not yet. Inaugurated/not yet consummated. First coming/Second coming. That some time of unknown length would span between Messiah's first and second comings - a period in which the Gospel 'of the kingdom' would be preached to all nations - and then the end will come. (Like that whole period is 'the last days' in suspense, in a certain sense.)
No comments:
Post a Comment